By Kalsang Rinchen
Dharamsala, June 17 – A Tibetan man arrested last month from the Tibetan capital Lhasa is believed to be held in Drapchi prison, the Voice of Tibet radio reported citing his younger brother. Family members and relatives of Samdup Gyatso, 28, made efforts to locate him since his arrest on May 1 this year for staging a protest against the Chinese government’s handling of the Kyegudo earthquake relief funds. They knew his whereabouts on June 13, according to Samdup’s younger brother Tenpa Dhargyal.
Dhargyal said his brother had been tortured in prison and is in poor physical condition. He said his brother’s initial plan was to hold his protest on the birthday of the Panchen Lama on April 25.
On May 1, Samdup shouted anti government slogans at a busy Tsuglakhang where many Tibetans had gathered for religious activities. “Invite the Dalai Lama to Tibet, “release the Panchen Lama, ” he chanted. He demanded “proper allocation and delivery of earthquake relief materials and funds received from international donors to the much needed nomadic communities in Kyegudo”. He was immediately nabbed by the Public Security Bureau officials and taken away.
Samdup Gyatso was born in a nomad family in Haiyan County, Tsochang (Ch: Haibei) “Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture” (‘TAP’) in Qinghai Province. He was a former student of Sherab Gatsel Lobling, a Transit School for newly arrived adult Tibetan refugees in Dharamsala. Samdup came into exile in November 2007 and studied for a year at Sherab Gatsel Lobling School.
In March 2008, he returned to Tibet via Tibet-Nepal border of Dram and was arrested for carrying several books of speeches by the Dalai Lama who is reviled by China as a “separatist,” and subsequently detained at Shigatse PSB Detention Centre for a month. He was later shifted to Drapchi Prison where he spent six months. He went back to his hometown after his release from prison in October 2008.
